Early Historic Period Ceramic Smoking Pipes from Budhigarh, in the Kalahandi District of Orissa, India
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Early Historic Period Ceramic Smoking Pipes from Budhigarh, in the Kalahandi District of Orissa, India. Blythe McCarthy, Christine Downie1 and Pradeep Mohanty2 Freer Gallery of Art/Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Washington D.C. 20560 USA 1 Queens University, Art Conservation Program Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N9 CANADA. 2 Dept. of Archaeology, Deccan College Research Institute, Pune 411006 INDIA. ABSTRACT Among ceramics found at early historic sites in the Kalahandi district of India are a great variety of terracotta smoking pipes or hukka. The pipes are fashioned from fine, iron-rich clay with extensive surface decoration. Their intricacy makes them the most distinctive art form of the area. Found at the majority of sites in the region, they are of special interest, both due to the care used in their execution and as they predate the introduction of tobacco to the area, leaving the plant being smoked a question. To determine their method of manufacture, and investigate the possibility of local manufacture, an initial study was conducted of a small number of pipes from the site of Budhigarh. The pipes, along with clay from the site (used extensively by modern potters), were studied using x-ray radiography, petrography, and inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP).
INTRODUCTION The Kalahandi district in the south-western portion of Orissa province has mineral and forest resources in abundance and a network of rivers, all of which enabled the survival, growth and evolution of human cultures during the early historic period of urbanisation from approximately 600 B.C. to 600 A.D. During this period, the re-emergence of cities and the growth of Buddhism occurred in Orissa as well as throughout the subcontinent[1]. Evidence of craft production has been found at several sites in the Kalahandi. In fact, the word Kalahandi literally means `black pot' or `pot of arts' in the Oriya language, suggesting the long-term presence of ceramic production in the area. The Kalahandi district was located on a major trade route during this period, and the ceramic assemblage of Kalahandi in general shows close affinity with many other Early Historic sites of South Asia. Black-and-Red ware, Northern Black Polished ware (NBPW), Knobbed ware, Red Polished ware and Black Slipped ware are the most noteworthy types[2-5]. The most common types of decorated shards have inscribed concentric circles either in the inner base or on the outer surface. Indented decorations are found below the neck on some examples of Red Slipped ware. These pottery types share many features in terms of technology with various coastal sites of Orissa such as Palur, Sisupalgarh and Jaugada and Chandraketugarh and Tamluk of West Bengal and Ahichatra and Kausambi of northern India[1,6]. The similarity of the objects found at the sites within the Kalahandi and with other eastern, northern, and Deccan
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Figure 1. Three pipe bowls, shown above sitting upside down on their mouths, and two pipe bases, at right, used in this study. At upper right is
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